Top tennis players defend anti-doping fight
ATP players defended their sport and the tour's updating of anti-doping information in the wake of drugs cases involving 15th-ranked Croatia's Marin Cilic and Serbian Viktor Troicki.
ATP players defended their sport and the tour's updating of anti-doping information in the wake of drugs cases involving 15th-ranked Croatia's Marin Cilic and Serbian Viktor Troicki.
"Tennis does a good job of testing from my experience," said 20th-ranked John Isner, the American No 1. "Tennis as a whole, I do feel, our sport is clean."
The topic has drawn attention after Troicki was banned for 18 months after allegedly refusing to submit a blood sample to a tester and Cilic reportedly tested positive at an April event in Munich.
Troicki, ranked 53rd, said he was assured he could skip the blood test without punishment.
Uncertainty about how well informed players are regarding banned substances and testing requirements then became the issue. "Our doping system is extremely tough," said American Mardy Fish. "We do get updates. We get a lot of information. There are things constantly coming in e-mails about player regulations, regulated substances."
Asked if he thought players were not well informed about doping regulations, Fish said: "That wouldn't be my experience, no. I like to take that pretty seriously."
Isner said the topic has not resonated with players, saying, "as far as talk in the locker room, there hasn't been any at all".
"These situations are unfortunate. I don't know what to think of it. I will side on their [players'] side. We'll see how it plays out."
Isner said he was once randomly tested twice in the same morning.
"To hear the ATP or Wada [World Anti-Doping Agency] doesn't educate enough, I don't think that's the case," Isner said. "I think the ATP does a good job informing us what we can and can't take."
Australian Bernard Tomic found the latest doping situations odd. "As a player myself, it's very weird and strange to see these things happen," he said. "It's strange, but it's their issue."
